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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Recent Favorites

Have you entered to win the $35 gift card in celebration of my 35th birthday? You can enter here and you have until midnight EST Thursday to enter.

I'm going to continue with my answers to the questions I asked of all of you. Today it is question #2. Enjoy

What is your favorite recent read?

There are two in this category also. It has been a couple months since I have read it but I L-O-V-E-D EDENBROOKE by Julianne Donaldson. I could not put this book down. Seriously. I nearly killed myself walking around while reading this book. It is so good. I love, love, love Philip. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Marianne Daventry will do anything to escape the boredom of Bath and the amorous attentions of an unwanted suitor. So when an invitation arrives from her twin sister, Cecily, to join her at a sprawling country estate, she jumps at the chance. Thinking she’ll be able to relax and enjoy her beloved English countryside while her sister snags the handsome heir of Edenbrooke, Marianne finds that even the best laid plans can go awry.

From a terrifying run-in with a highwayman to a seemingly harmless flirtation, Marianne finds herself embroiled in an unexpected adventure filled with enough romance and intrigue to keep her mind racing. Will she be able to rein in her traitorous heart, or will a mysterious stranger sweep her off her feet? Fate had something other than a relaxing summer in mind when it sent Marianne to Edenbrooke.

The second is THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND by Elizabeth George Speare. I had somehow missed reading this all through my years of school even though it is a Newberry Medal winner and it seems everybody else has read it. I actually read it for a Book Club last month and I loved it. It is really amazing to read historical fiction at all because I can't imagine the amount of research involved. But add to that the fact that this book was published in 1958 and it is astonishing! There was no such thing as Google when this book was written. One small detail that we, as readers, might just skim over, probably took her hours and hours of research to get right. Besides that I loved the story. I am a sucker for the bad boy type (although I married the complete opposite of the bad boy and I'm totally happy with him) so I loved Nat. And again this is a book about an orphan going to live with relatives. I tell you I have a thing for orphans. :) The storyline was great and I would really recommend this book. It is an easy read too - it took me between 4 and 5 hours to read. Here is the Goodreads synopsis for this one.

Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!

I haven't read Witch of Blackbird Pond. I'll have to get on that! I liked Edenbrooke, too, which kind of surprised me because I don't usually like books like that. But, I might have to try more of them :)